Lobby management system

ABSTRACT

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect an individual who enters into a lobby of a building, retrieve context information corresponding to the individual, update a user profile of the individual to indicate the individual has arrived at the building, and control one or more access control devices to grant the individual access to the building based on the context information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present Application claims the benefit and priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,370, filed on Jan. 18, 2019,U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,276, filed on Jan. 18,2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,533, filed on Jan.18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,535, filed onJan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,389, filedon Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/794,393,filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/794,415, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/794,032, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/794,357, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/794,348, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, 62/794,407,filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/794,502, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/794,489, filed on Jan. 18, 2019, the entire disclosures of eachof which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

A building management system (BMS) is, in general, a system of devicesconfigured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in and/or around abuilding or building area. A BMS can include, for example, an HVACsystem, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system,and any other system that is capable of managing building functions ordevices, or any combination thereof. As the number of BMS devices usedin various sectors increases, the amount of data being produced andcollected has been increasing exponentially. Accordingly, effectiveanalysis and information management of a plethora of collected data isdesired.

SUMMARY

One implementation of the present disclosure is one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to detect an individual who enters into a lobbyof a building, retrieve context information corresponding to theindividual, update a user profile of the individual to indicate theindividual has arrived at the building, and control one or more accesscontrol devices to grant the individual access to the building based onthe context information.

In some embodiments, detecting the individual includes recognizing aphysical characteristic of the individual. In some embodiments, thecontext information includes a security metric associated with theindividual. In some embodiments, controlling the one or more accesscontrol devices is in response to comparing the security metric to athreshold. In some embodiments, the context information includes aschedule having events associated with the individual. In someembodiments, controlling the one or more access control devices furtherincludes displaying directions to the individual to a location of a nextevent on the schedule of the individual. In some embodiments, thecontext information includes an interested person. In some embodiments,updating the user profile of the individual includes transmitting anotification to a device associated with the interested personindicating that the individual has arrived in the lobby. In someembodiments, the context information includes user preferences of theindividual. In some embodiments, updating the user profile of theindividual includes transmitting a notification to a food/beverageprovider based on the user preferences of the individual.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a method, includingdetecting an individual who enters into a lobby of a building,retrieving context information corresponding to the individual, whereinthe context information includes a schedule having events associatedwith the individual, updating a user profile of the individual toindicate the individual has arrived at the building, and controlling oneor more access control devices to grant the individual access to thebuilding based on the context information, wherein controlling the oneor more access control devices further includes displaying to theindividual directions to a location of a next event on the schedule ofthe individual.

In some embodiments, detecting the individual includes recognizing aphysical characteristic of the individual. In some embodiments, thecontext information includes a security metric associated with theindividual. In some embodiments, controlling the one or more accesscontrol devices is in response to comparing the security metric to athreshold. In some embodiments, the context information includes aninterested person. In some embodiments, updating the user profile of theindividual includes transmitting a notification to a device associatedwith the interested person indicating that the individual has arrived inthe lobby. In some embodiments, the context information includes userpreferences of the individual. In some embodiments, updating the userprofile of the individual includes transmitting a notification to afood/beverage provider based on the user preferences of the individual.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a buildingmanagement system (BMS), including one or more processing circuits andone or more computer readable storage media, the one or more computerreadable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by the one or more processing circuits, cause the one or moreprocessing circuits to detect an individual who enters into a lobby of abuilding, retrieve context information corresponding to the individual,wherein the context information includes an interested person, update auser profile of the individual to indicate the individual has arrived atthe building, and control one or more access control devices to grantthe individual access to the building based on the context information.

In some embodiments, updating the user profile of the individualincludes transmitting a notification to a device associated with theinterested person indicating that the individual has arrived in thelobby.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to detect a vehicle that enters into a parkinglot, identify an individual associated with the vehicle, retrievecontext information corresponding to the individual, transmit anotification to a lobby personnel indicating that the individual hasarrived in the parking lot, and control one or more access controldevices to grant the individual access to a building associated with theparking lot based on the context information.

In some embodiments, detecting the vehicle includes recognizing alicense plate of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the contextinformation includes a security metric associated with the individual.In some embodiments, controlling the one or more access control devicesis in response to comparing the security metric to a threshold. In someembodiments, identifying the individual includes recognizing a physicalcharacteristic of the individual. In some embodiments, the contextinformation includes a schedule having events associated with theindividual. In some embodiments, controlling the one or more accesscontrol devices further includes displaying to the individual directionsto a location of a next event on the schedule of the individual. In someembodiments, the context information includes interested persons. Insome embodiments, the system further transmits a notification to adevice associated with at least one of the interested persons indicatingthat the individual has arrived in the parking lot.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a method, includingdetecting a vehicle that enters into a parking lot, identifying anindividual associated with the vehicle, retrieving context informationcorresponding to the individual, wherein the context informationincludes interested persons, transmitting a first notification to alobby personnel indicating that the individual has arrived in theparking lot, and transmitting a second notification to a deviceassociated with at least one of the interested persons indicating thatthe individual has arrived in the parking lot, and controlling one ormore access control devices to grant the individual access to a buildingassociated with the parking lot based on the context information.

In some embodiments, detecting the vehicle includes recognizing alicense plate of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the contextinformation includes a security metric associated with the individual.In some embodiments, controlling the one or more access control devicesis in response to comparing the security metric to a threshold. In someembodiments, identifying the individual includes recognizing a physicalcharacteristic of the individual. In some embodiments, the contextinformation includes a schedule having events associated with theindividual. In some embodiments, controlling the one or more accesscontrol devices further includes displaying to the individual directionsto a location of a next event on the schedule of the individual.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a buildingmanagement system (BMS), including one or more processing circuits andone or more computer readable storage media, the one or more computerreadable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by the one or more processing circuits, cause the one or moreprocessing circuits to detect a vehicle that enters into a parking lot,identify an individual associated with the vehicle, retrieve contextinformation corresponding to the individual, transmit a notification toa lobby personnel indicating that the individual has arrived in theparking lot, and control one or more access control devices to grant theindividual access to a building associated with the parking lot based onthe context information.

In some embodiments, detecting the vehicle includes recognizing alicense plate of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the contextinformation includes a security metric associated with the individual.In some embodiments, controlling the one or more access control devicesis in response to comparing the security metric to a threshold.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to detect an individual who enters into a lobbyof a building, retrieve context information corresponding to theindividual, determine environmental characteristics of the lobby, andgenerate an action based on the context information and theenvironmental characteristics of the lobby.

In some embodiments, detecting the individual includes recognizing aphysical characteristic of the individual. In some embodiments,determining environmental characteristics of the lobby includedetermining an occupancy metric associated with the lobby. In someembodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification to adevice associated with the individual identifying an entrance for thebuilding, wherein the entrance is located separately of the lobby. Insome embodiments, the context information includes interested persons.In some embodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification to adevice associated with at least one of the interested persons. In someembodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification tosecurity personnel indicating a number of people in the lobby. In someembodiments, determining environmental characteristics of the lobbyfurther includes measuring a temperature in the lobby. In someembodiments, generating the action includes controlling an HVAC systemto change the temperature in the lobby based on the occupancy metric.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a method, includesdetecting an individual who enters into a lobby of a building,retrieving context information corresponding to the individual,determining environmental characteristics of the lobby, and generatingan action based on the context information and the environmentalcharacteristics of the lobby.

In some embodiments, detecting the individual includes recognizing aphysical characteristic of the individual. In some embodiments,determining environmental characteristics of the lobby includedetermining an occupancy metric associated with the lobby. In someembodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification to adevice associated with the individual identifying an entrance for thebuilding, wherein the entrance is located separately of the lobby. Insome embodiments, the context information includes interested persons.In some embodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification to adevice associated with at least one of the interested persons. In someembodiments, generating the action includes, in response to theoccupancy metric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification tosecurity personnel indicating a number of people in the lobby. In someembodiments, determining environmental characteristics of the lobbyfurther includes measuring a temperature in the lobby. In someembodiments, generating the action includes controlling an HVAC systemto change the temperature in the lobby based on the occupancy metric.

Another implementation of the present disclosure is a buildingmanagement system (BMS), including one or more processing circuits andone or more computer readable storage media, the one or more computerreadable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by the one or more processing circuits, cause the one or moreprocessing circuits to detect an individual who enters into a lobby of abuilding, retrieve context information corresponding to the individual,determine environmental characteristics of the lobby, and generate anaction based on the context information and the environmentalcharacteristics of the lobby.

In some embodiments, determining environmental characteristics of thelobby include determining an occupancy metric associated with the lobby,and wherein generating the action includes, in response to the occupancymetric exceeding a threshold, transmitting a notification to a deviceassociated with the individual identifying an entrance for the building,wherein the entrance is located separately of the lobby.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects and features of the present disclosure willbecome more apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description of the example embodiments with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a smart building environment, according toan exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 1B is another block diagram of the smart building environment ofFIG. 1A, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a building data platform associated withthe smart building environment of FIGS. 1A-1B, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an entity graph, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 3B is another block diagram of the entity graph of FIG. 3A,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a lobby management system, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4B is a node graph illustrating connections between features andcomponents of the lobby management system of FIG. 4A, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method of performing actions in responseto the arrival of an individual, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method of generating an action based on anenvironmental characteristic of a lobby, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a lobby implementing the lobbymanagement system of FIG. 4A, according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring generally to the FIGURES, described herein are systems andmethods of a lobby management system. A lobby management system mayinclude a smart lobby and a smart lobby system. The smart lobby mayinclude sensors configured to generate data for identifying individuals.The smart lobby may further include access control devices and/ordigital displays. The smart lobby may be communicably coupled to thesmart lobby system. The smart lobby system may identify, based on thedata from the sensors, an individual, traverse an entity graph datastructure forming a digital twin of the individual to retrieve contextinformation corresponding to the individual, and take actions based onthe retrieved context information. As a further example, the smart lobbysystem may detect an individual who enters into a lobby, retrievecontext information corresponding to the individual, update a digitaltwin of the individual to indicate that the individual has arrived atthe lobby, and control one or more access control devices based on thecontext information. As a further example, the smart lobby system maydetect an individual who enters into a lobby, retrieve contextinformation corresponding to the individual, determine environmentalcharacteristics associated with the lobby, and generate an action basedon the context information and the environmental characteristics of thelobby. In some embodiments, the smart lobby system may send anotification to a mobile device associated with the individual to directthem to a different entrance.

Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawings. Referring now to FIGS. 1A-1B, ablock diagram of a smart building environment 100 is shown, according toan exemplary embodiment. Smart building environment 100 is shown toinclude cloud building management platform 140. Cloud buildingmanagement platform 140 may be configured to collect information from avariety of different data sources. Cloud management platform 140 maycreate digital representations, referred to as “digital twins,” ofphysical spaces, equipment, people, and/or events based on the collectedinformation. In various embodiments, the digital representations arestored in an entity graph. In brief overview, an entity graph is a datastructure representing entities (e.g., spaces, equipment, people,events, etc.) and relationships between the entities. In variousembodiments, the entity graph data structure facilitates advancedartificial intelligence and machine learning associated with theentities. In various embodiments, entities within the entity graph datastructure include or are associated with “agents,” or software entitiesconfigured to take actions with respect to the digital twins/real worldentities with which they are associated. In some implementations, theagents may be configured to implement artificial intelligence/machinelearning methodologies. The agents may be configured to facilitatecommunication and collection of information between the variety ofdifferent data sources. Each of the data sources may be implemented as,include, or otherwise use respective agents for facilitatingcommunication amongst or between the data sources and cloud buildingmanagement platform 140. The agents of cloud building managementplatform 140 and data sources may be configured to communicate usingdefined channels across which the agents may exchange information,messages, data, etc. amongst each other. In some examples, channels maybe defined for particular spaces, subspaces, control loops, groups ofequipment, people, buildings or groups of buildings, etc. In someimplementations, agents may communicate by publishing messages toparticular channels and subscribing to messages on particular channelsand/or published by particular other agents/types of agents. In variousembodiments, the data sources include buildings. For example, cloudbuilding management platform 140 may interact with a number ofbuildings, each of which may include an agent (or a group of agentscorresponding to various building subsystems within the respectivebuilding), to receive information. Hence, cloud building managementplatform 140 and the data sources may together form a network of agentsto facilitate artificially intelligent exchange and communication ofinformation across various channels. In some embodiments, one or moredevice(s), component(s), space(s) (and sets of devices, components,spaces) within cloud building management platform 140 may include arespective agent dedicated to perform various tasks associatedtherewith. The agents may therefore be dedicated for performing separatefunctions or tasks.

In various embodiments, cloud building management platform 140 collectsdata from buildings 10. For example, cloud building management platform140 may collect data from buildings 10 such as a school, a hospital, afactory, an office building, and/or the like. It should be understoodthat the present disclosure is not limited to the number or types ofbuildings 10 shown in FIG. 1B. As newdevices/components/spaces/buildings/events/control loops are added orotherwise incorporated into smart building environment 100, new digitalrepresentations (and associated agents, etc.) may be dynamicallygenerated and incorporated into the entity graph data structure. Variousexamples of agents and corresponding networking may be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/934,593, filed Mar. 23, 2018, and titled“Building Management System with Dynamic Channel Communication”, P.C.T.Application No. PCT/US2018/037,589, filed Jun. 14, 2018, and titled“Building Management System with Artificial Intelligence for UnifiedAgent Based Control of Building Subsystems,” and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/036,685, filed Jul. 16, 2018, and titled “Systems andMethods for Agent Based Building Simulation for Optimal Control”, thecontents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Buildings 10 may include entities 12. Entities 12 may include spaces,equipment, people, and/or events. In some embodiments, entities 12include spaces such as floors, rooms, zones, campuses, buildings, andthe like. In some embodiments, entities 12 include people such asemployees, visitors, pedestrians, staff, and the like. In someembodiments, entities 12 include equipment such as inventory, assets,furniture, vehicles, building components, devices, and the like. Forexample, entities 12 may include devices such as internet of things(IoT) devices. IoT devices may include any of a variety of physicaldevices, sensors, actuators, electronics, vehicles, home appliances,and/or other items capable of communicating data over an electronicnetwork (e.g., smart lights, smart appliances, smart home hub devices,etc.). In some embodiments, entities 12 include events such as meetings,fault indications, alarms, and the like. In various embodiments, cloudbuilding management platform 140 receives information associated withbuildings 10 and/or entities 12 and generates entity graph 170 based onthe received information. Entity graph 170 may include digital twinsthat are digital representations of real world spaces, equipment,people, events, and/or the like. Entity graph 170 is described ingreater detail below with reference to FIG. 3A-3B.

Smart building environment 100 may include building management system(BMS) 102. In various embodiments, BMS 102 communicates with cloudbuilding management platform 140 to facilitate management and control ofbuildings 10 and/or the various operations described herein. BMS 102 maybe configured to control, monitor, and/or manage equipment in or arounda building or building area (e.g., such as buildings 10, etc.). Forexample, BMS 102 may include a HVAC system, a security system, alighting system, a fire alerting system, and any other system that iscapable of managing building functions or devices, or any combinationthereof. Further, each of the systems may include sensors and otherdevices (e.g., IoT devices) for the proper operation, maintenance,monitoring, and the like of the respective systems. In some embodiments,each of buildings 10 is associated with a BMS 102. Additionally oralternatively, a single BMS 102 may manage multiple buildings 10. Forexample, a first BMS 102 may manage a first building 10, a second BMS102 may manage a second building 10, and a third BMS 102 may manage thefirst and second buildings 10 (e.g., via the first and second BMS 102,in a master-slave configuration, etc.), as well as a third building 10.In various embodiments, BMS 102 communicates with building subsystems120.

Building subsystems 120 may include fire safety subsystem 122,lift/escalators subsystem 124, building electrical subsystem 126,information communication technology (ICT) subsystem 128, securitysubsystem 130, HVAC subsystem 132, and/or lighting subsystem 134. Invarious embodiments, building subsystems 120 include fewer, additional,or alternative subsystems. For example, building subsystems 120 mayadditionally or alternatively include a refrigeration subsystem, anadvertising or signage subsystem, a cooking subsystem, a vendingsubsystem, a printer or copy service subsystem, or any other type ofbuilding subsystem that uses controllable equipment and/or sensors tomonitor or control a building 10. In some embodiment each of buildings10 includes building subsystems 120. Additionally or alternatively,multiple buildings 10 may share at least some of building subsystems120.

Each of building subsystems 120 may include any number of devices (e.g.,IoT devices), sensors, controllers, and connections to facilitatefunctions and control activities. For example, HVAC subsystem 132 mayinclude a chiller, a boiler, any number of air handling units,economizers, field controllers, supervisory controllers, actuators,temperature sensors, and other devices for controlling the temperature,humidity, airflow, or other variable conditions within buildings 10.Lighting subsystem 134 may include any number of light fixtures,ballasts, lighting sensors, dimmers, or other devices configured tocontrollably adjust the amount of light provided to a building space.Security subsystem 130 may include occupancy sensors, video surveillancecameras, digital video recorders, video processing servers, intrusiondetection devices, access control devices and servers, or othersecurity-related devices.

Cloud building management platform 140 and/or BMS 102 may interact witha variety of external systems. For example, cloud building managementplatform 140 may interact with remote systems and applications 30,client devices 40, and/or third party services 50. In variousembodiments, systems and/or components of smart building environment 100are configured to communicate using network 20. Network 20 may includehardware, software, or any combination thereof.

BMS 102 is shown to include communications interface 104 and processingcircuit 106. Communications interface 104 may facilitate communicationsbetween BMS 102 and external systems/applications (e.g., cloud buildingmanagement platform 140, remote systems and applications 30, clientdevices 40, third party services 50, building subsystems 120, etc.).Communications interface 104 may be or include wired or wirelesscommunications interfaces (e.g., jacks, antennas, transmitters,receivers, transceivers, wire terminals, etc.) for conducting datacommunications within smart building environment 100 and/or with otherexternal systems or devices. In various embodiments, communications viacommunications interface 104 is direct (e.g., local wired or wirelesscommunications). Additionally or alternatively, communications viacommunications interface 104 may be via network 20 (e.g., a WAN, theInternet, a cellular network, etc.). For example, cloud buildingmanagement platform 140 may communicate with BMS 102 using a wiredconnection and may communicate with client devices 40 (e.g., via BMS102, etc.) using a cellular connection (e.g., a 4G or 5G accesspoint/small cell base station, etc.). As a further example,communications interface 104 may include an Ethernet card and port forsending and receiving data via an Ethernet-based communications link ornetwork. As a further example, communications interface 104 may includea Wi-Fi transceiver for communicating via a wireless communicationsnetwork. As yet a further example, communications interface 104 mayinclude cellular or mobile phone communications transceivers.

Processing circuit 106 may include processor 108 and memory 110.Processing circuit 106 may be communicably connected to communicationsinterface 104 such that processing circuit 106 and the variouscomponents thereof can send and receive data via communicationsinterface 104. Processor 108 may be implemented as a general purposeprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one ormore field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processingcomponents, or other suitable electronic processing components.

Memory 110 (e.g., memory, memory unit, storage device, etc.) may includeone or more devices (e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash memory, hard disk storage,etc.) for storing data and/or computer code for completing orfacilitating the various processes, layers and modules described in thepresent application. Memory 110 may be or include volatile memory ornon-volatile memory. Memory 110 may include database components, objectcode components, script components, or any other type of informationstructure for supporting the various activities and informationstructures described in the present application. According to someembodiments, memory 110 is communicably connected to processor 108 viaprocessing circuit 106 and includes computer code for executing (e.g.,by processing circuit 106 and/or processor 108) one or more of theoperations described herein.

In some embodiments, BMS 102 and/or cloud building management platform140 are implemented within a single computer (e.g., one server, onehousing, etc.). In various other embodiments BMS 102 and/or cloudbuilding management platform 140 are distributed across multiple serversor computers (e.g., that can exist in distributed locations). In someembodiments, functions of BMS 102 and/or cloud building managementplatform 140 are implemented as agents. For example, BMS 102 may includea fault detection agent configured to analyze building data and detectfaults associated with building components.

Memory 110 may include applications circuit 112 that may includebuilding management application(s) 114. Building managementapplication(s) 114 may include various systems to monitor and/or controlspecific processes/events within buildings 10. For example, buildingmanagement application(s) 114 may include automated measurement andvalidation (AM&V), demand response (DR), fault detection and diagnostics(FDD), integrated control systems, and/or a building subsystemintegration system. Building management application(s) 114 may beconfigured to receive inputs from building subsystems 120 and/or otherdata sources, determine improved and/or optimal control actions forbuilding subsystems 120 based on the inputs, generate control signalsbased on the improved and/or optimal control actions, and provide thegenerated control signals to building subsystems 120.

Cloud building management platform 140 is shown to include processingcircuit 142 having processor 144 and memory 146. In some embodiments,cloud building management platform 140 includes multiple processingcircuits 142 each having one or more processors 144 and/or memories 146.Processor 144 may be a general purpose or specific purpose processor, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processing components, orother suitable processing components. Processor 144 may be configured toexecute computer code or instructions stored in memory 146 or receivedfrom other computer readable media (e.g., CDROM, network storage, aremote server, etc.).

Memory 146 may include one or more devices (e.g., memory units, memorydevices, storage devices, etc.) for storing data and/or computer codefor completing and/or facilitating the various processes described inthe present disclosure. Memory 146 may include random access memory(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive storage, temporary storage,non-volatile memory, flash memory, optical memory, or any other suitablememory for storing software objects and/or computer instructions. Memory146 may include database components, object code components, scriptcomponents, or any other type of information structure for supportingthe various activities and information structures described in thepresent disclosure. According to some embodiments, memory 146 iscommunicably connected to processor 144 via processing circuit 142 andincludes computer code for executing (e.g., by processing circuit 142and/or processor 144) one or more of the operations described herein.

Memory 146 may include data management circuit 148, entity graph circuit150, analytics circuit 152, event management circuit 154, applicationscircuit 156, and/or user interface circuit 158. Data management circuit148 may be configured to collect, manage, and/or retrieve data. Invarious embodiments, data management circuit 148 receives data samplesfrom buildings 10 (e.g., via BMS 102, directly, etc.) and stores thedata samples in structured storage. For example, the data samples mayinclude data values for various data points. The data values may bemeasured and/or calculated values, depending on the type of data point.For example, a data point received from a temperature sensor may includea measured data value indicating a temperature measured by thetemperature sensor. Data management circuit 148 may receive data samplesfrom systems, components, and/or devices (e.g., IoT devices, sensors,etc.) within smart building environment 100 (e.g., remote systems andapplications 30, client devices 40, third party services 50, BMS 102,building subsystems 120, etc.) and/or from external systems (e.g., theInternet, etc.). For example, data management circuit 148 may receivetimeseries data from an occupancy sensor associated with one ofbuildings 10 and facilitate storage of the timeseries data in structuredstorage (e.g., in entity graph 170, etc.). As a further example, datamanagement circuit 148 may receive an electronic calendar event (e.g., ameeting invitation, etc.) from one of client devices 40 and facilitatestorage of the electronic calendar event in structure storage (e.g., inentity graph 170, etc.). In some embodiments, data management circuit148 uses or retrieves an entity graph (e.g., via entity graph circuit150, etc.) when organizing received data.

Entity graph circuit 150 may be configured to manage entity graph 170.In various embodiments, entity graph circuit 150 registers and managesvarious buildings (e.g., building 10, etc.), spaces, persons, subsystems(e.g., building subsystems 120, etc.), devices (e.g., IoT devices,etc.), events, and/or other entities in cloud building managementplatform 140. As described above, an entity may be any person, place,space, physical object, equipment, or the like. Further, an entity maybe any event, data point, record structure, or the like. Entities andentity graph 170 are described in detail below with reference to FIGS.3A-3B.

Analytics circuit 152 may be configured to analyze data to generateresults. For example, analytics circuit 152 may analyze sensor data(e.g., weight measurements, image data, audio data, etc.) from abuilding lobby to identify a user. As a further example, analyticscircuit 152 may apply fault detection rules to timeseries data from anHVAC system to detect a fault associated with the HVAC system. Invarious embodiments, analytics circuit 152 performs operations oninformation stored in entity graph 170. For example, analytics circuit152 may traverse entity graph 170 to retrieve context information (e.g.,energy usage, event activity, occupancy sensor data, HVAC controlschedules, etc.) associated with one of buildings 10, and analyze thecontext information to determine a user schedule associated with thebuilding (e.g., when the building is most heavily in use, etc.).

Event management circuit 154 may be configured to generate actions. Forexample, event management circuit 154 may receive event data frombuilding subsystems 120 (e.g., a security alarm, etc.), and generate aresponse based on the event data (e.g., cause BMS 102 to sound an alarm,etc.). In various embodiments, event management circuit 154 generatesactions dynamically. For example, event management circuit 154 mayinclude artificially intelligent agents configured to generate actionsin real-time based on received input. For example, event managementcircuit 154 may include an AI agent that dynamically generates anotification to an interested party in response to receiving anindication of an identified individual. As a further example, eventmanagement circuit 154 may receive a prediction from analytics circuit152 that a building component is about to enter a fault state and maydynamically generate a work order ticket for the building component inresponse to the received prediction.

Applications circuit 156 may be configured to facilitate a variety ofapplications associated with cloud building management platform 140. Forexample, applications circuit 156 may facilitate a smart messagingsystem, a personal comfort system, a health and wellness system, a smartparking lot system, a smart signage system, a smart lobby system, asmart meeting room system, an employee productivity system, and/or thelike. In various embodiments, applications circuit 156 facilitatesoperation of various systems that integrate with smart buildingenvironment 100. For example, applications circuit 156 may facilitate aFDD system that receives data from buildings 10 and generates faultindications associated with buildings 10.

User interface 158 may be configured to facilitate user interaction withcloud building management platform 140 and/or BMS 102. For example, auser may update personalized preferences associated with operation ofcloud building management platform 140 via user interface 158. In someembodiments, user interface 158 facilitates dynamic feedback (e.g., anatural user interface, etc). For example, user interface 158 mayfacilitate chatbot interaction, voice commands, user authentication,biometric feedback, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a building data platform 200 associated withthe smart building environment 100 is shown, according to an exemplaryembodiment. In various embodiments, cloud building management platform140 implements the architecture of building data platform 200. Buildingdata platform 200 is shown to include various layers 240. For example,layers 240 may include an interaction layer, an experience and outcomeservice layer, a policy and workflow management layer, datacollaboration layer, entity graph layer, and/or a system of systemintegration and data service layer. In various embodiments, buildingdata platform 200 includes interface(s) 202. For example, interface(s)202 may include a mobile phone application, a natural user interface(e.g., voice recognition, chatbot services, text recognition, etc.), abrowser application, a signage system, and/or the like. Interface(s) 202may facilitate human-to-machine interaction, information visualization,and user experience functions.

In various embodiments, building data platform 200 includes service(s)204. Service(s) 204 may include various user deliverables (e.g.,outcomes, experiences, etc.) facilitated by building data platform 200.For example, service(s) 204 may include meeting scheduling, energymanagement, building supplies replenishment, lobby management (e.g.,tracking a number of individuals in a building lobby and respondingbased on the number of individuals, etc.), facility management,productivity features (e.g., measuring and reporting on employeeproductivity, generating productivity suggestions, etc.), restroommanagement (e.g., monitoring a cleanliness of building restrooms, etc.),personal comfort management (e.g., adjusting building parameters basedon occupant comfort preferences, etc.), employee engagement features(e.g., monitoring and reporting on employee engagement, generatingengagement suggestions, etc.), parking management (e.g., dynamicallyassigning parking spaces, etc.), location services (e.g., generatingactions based on users' locations, etc.), health and wellness features(e.g., monitoring and reporting on employee health and wellness,generating health and wellness suggestions, etc.), smart security (e.g.,dynamically identifying individuals within a building, monitoringsecurity parameters associated with a building, etc.), branding features(e.g., dynamic digital signage updating based on an identity of aviewer, etc.), and/or utility features (e.g., monitoring and reportingon building utility usage, generating suggestions to reduce utilityconsumption and/or cost, etc.). In various embodiments, service(s) 204generate a virtual view of data from data collaboration, businessworkflows, and downstream sub-systems (e.g., sensors, actuators, etc.).

In various embodiments, building data platform 200 includes eventprocessing 206. Event processing 206 may facilitate generating actionsbased on received data. For example, event processing 206 may receive anindication of an event within buildings 10, retrieve informationassociated with the event, and trigger a set of predefined workflows toperform management policies. In various embodiments, event processing206 includes complex event processing and/or a business workflowprocessing engine (e.g., a rules engine, etc.) integrated with messagingand data models (e.g., event data models, etc.).

In various embodiments, building data platform 200 includes datasource(s) 208. For example, data source(s) 208 may include dataassociated with people, places, assets, and/or the like. In variousembodiments, building data platform 200 interacts with digital twinsincluded in entity graph 170. For example, building data platform 200may project a digital twin into a virtual data view to facilitateservice(s) 204. Data source(s) 208 may manage a database view of digitalrepresentation of people, places and assets. In various embodiments,data source(s) 208 represent heterogeneous source data schema as an opensource common data model (e.g., a Brick Schema/extensions, etc.).

In various embodiments, entity graph layer 240 includes digital twin 210and context information 212. Digital twin 210 is a digitalrepresentation of spaces, assets, people, events, and/or anythingassociated with a building or operation thereof. In various embodiments,digital twin 210 is modeled in entity graph 170. In various embodiments,digital twins 210 include an active compute process. For example, adigital twin 210 may communicate with other digital twins 210, and tosense, predict and acts. In various embodiments, digital twin 210 isgenerated dynamically. For example, a digital twin 210 corresponding toa conference room may update its status by looking at occupancy sensorsor an electronic calendar (e.g., to turn its status “available” if thereis no show, etc.). In various embodiments, digital twin 210 and/orentity graph 170 include context information 212. Context information212 may include real-time data and a historical record of each system inthe environment (e.g., campus, building, facility, space, etc.). Contextinformation 212 may be stored in entity graph 170. In variousembodiments, context information 212 facilitates flexible data modelingfor advanced analytics and AI application in scenarios that model highlyinterconnected entities.

In various embodiments, building data platform 200 includes datamanagement 214 and/or operation(s) 216. Data management 214 may manage,retrieve, and transmit data to various systems. For example, datamanagement 214 may retrieve and transmit data integration protocols toOT sub-systems. Operation(s) 216 may include data storage attribution,schema management, smart entity management, information integration,schema transformation, intelligent messaging, batch analytics, streamanalysis, and/or device assurance.

In various embodiments, building data platform 200 includesadministration and monitoring 220 and/or identity and security 230.Administration and monitoring 220 may facilitate various administrativefunctions and/or operations. For example, an administrator may viewmemory allocation analytics associated with building data platform 200(e.g., how much memory does entity graph 170 occupy, etc.). Identity andsecurity 230 may facilitate various security features. For example,identity and security 230 may encrypt personally identifiableinformation (PII) included in digital twin 210.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3B, an entity graph 300 is shown in greaterdetail, according to an exemplary embodiment. In brief overview, entitygraphs such as entity graph 170 and/or entity graph 300 are structureddata stored in memory (e.g., a database, memory 146, etc.). Entitygraphs such as entity graph 300 and/or entity graph 170 may includedigital twins. Digital twins may be digital representations of realworld spaces, equipment, people, and/or events. In various embodiments,digital twins represent buildings, building equipment, people associatedwith buildings, and/or events associated with buildings (e.g., buildings10, etc.). An entity graph may include nodes and edges, where each nodeof the entity graph represents an entity and each edge is directed(e.g., from a first node to a second node) and represents a relationshipbetween entities (e.g., indicates that the entity represented by thefirst node has a particular relationship with the entity represented bythe second node). For example, an entity graph may be used to representa digital twin of a person.

Entities can be things and/or concepts related to spaces, people, and/orasset. For example, the entities could be “B7F4 North”, “Air HandlingUnit,” and/or “meeting room.” The nodes can represent nouns while theedges can represent verbs. For example, the edges can be “isA,”“hasPart,” and/or “feeds.” In various embodiments, the edges representrelationships. While the nodes represent the building and itscomponents, the edges describe how the building operates. The nodes andedges together create a digital twin of a particular building. In someembodiments, the entities include properties or attributes describingthe entities (e.g., a thermostat may have a particular model numberattribute). The components of the entity graph form large networks thatencode semantic information for a building.

The entity graph is configured to enable flexible data modeling foradvanced analytics, control, and/or artificial intelligenceapplications, in some embodiments. These applications may require, orbenefit from information modeling including interconnected entities.Other data modeling techniques based on a table, a hierarchy, adocument, and/or a relational database may not be applicable. The entitygraph can be a foundational knowledge management layer to support otherhigher level applications, which can be, complex root cause, impactanalysis, building powerful recommendation engines, product taxonomyinformation services, etc. Such a multilayer system, a system of systemtopologies, can benefit from an underlying entity graph.

The entity graph can be a data contextualization layer for alltraditional and/or artificial intelligence applications. The entitygraph can be configured to capture evidence that can be used toattribute the strengths of entity relationships within the entity graph,providing the applications which utilize the entity graph with contextof the systems they are operating. Without context (e.g., who the useris, what the user is looking for, what the target of a user request is,e.g., find a meeting room, increase a temperature in my office) theseapplications may never reach their full potential. Furthermore, theentity graph provides a native data structure for constructing questionand answer type systems, e.g., a chatbot, that can leverage andunderstand intent.

The entity graph may not be a configuration database but may be adynamic representation of a space, person, event, and the like. Theentity graph can include operational data from entities which itrepresents, e.g., sensors, actuators, card access systems, occupancy ofa particular space, thermodynamics of the space as a result ofactuation, etc. The entity graph can be configured to continually,and/or periodically, ingest new data of the space and thus the entitygraph can represent a near real-time status of cyber-physical entitiesand their inter-relationships. For this reason, artificial intelligencecan be configured to introduce a virtual entity and new semanticrelationships among entities, in some embodiments.

The entity graph is configured to facilitate adaptive controls, in someembodiments. The entity graph can be configured to adapt and learn overtime. The entity graph can be configured to enable dynamic relationshipsbetween building information and other facility and enterprise systemsto create new insights and drive new optimization capabilities forartificial intelligence systems. As relationships can be learned overtime for the entity graph, the artificial intelligence systems and alsolearn overtime based on the entity graph. Entity graphs (e.g., spacegraphs, etc.) are described in greater detail with reference to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/260,078, filed on Jan. 28, 2019, theentire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.

Entity graph 300 includes entities 302-358 (stored as nodes withinentity graph 300) describing spaces, equipment, events, and people(e.g., business employees, etc.). In various embodiments, entities302-358 are associated with or otherwise include agents (e.g., agentsmay be assigned to/associated with entities, etc.). Additionally oralternatively, agents may be represented as nodes in entity graph 300(e.g., agent entities, etc.). Furthermore, relationships are shownbetween entities 302-358 directionally describing relationships betweentwo of entities 302-358 (stored as edges within entity graph 300). Invarious embodiments, cloud building management platform 140 may traverseentity graph 300 to retrieve a description of what types of actions totake for a certain device, what the current status of a room is (e.g.,occupied or unoccupied), etc.

As an example, entity graph 300 illustrates an office space called “B7F5North” of a building. A smart TV referred to as “Smart TV 001” has adirectional relationship to the space referred to as “B7F5 North.” Therelationship may be an edge “hasLocation” indicating that the device(e.g., the smart TV represented by entity 324) has a location (e.g., thespace represented by entity 302). Furthermore, a second edge “contains”from entity 302 to entity 324 indicates that the location (e.g., thespace represented by entity 302) includes the device (e.g., the smart TVrepresented by entity 324). In some embodiments, entity graph circuit150 generates the nodes of entity graph 300 from various data sourcesincluding a building automation system, a security system, a fire alarm,human resources system, and/or building information model (BIM) files(e.g., through an entity name matching process, etc.). Furthermore,semantic relationships may be extracted from the building information byentity graph circuit 150. In some embodiments, only a singlerelationship exists between entities. In some embodiments, nodes andedges are determined dynamically as building data that is received andingested into entity graph 300. For example, cloud building managementplatform 140 is configured to identify a door lock and card reader andgenerate a number of nodes and edges in entity graph 300 representingthe card reader controller operation of the door lock.

Smart Lobby System

Speaking now generally, described herein are systems and methods of asmart lobby system. The smart lobby described herein may facilitateindividual user experiences. For example, a smart lobby may identify anindividual and/or a group of individuals and react based on theidentified individual and/or group of individuals. In some embodiments,a smart lobby system may identify an individual, retrieve a scheduleassociated with the individual, and grant the individual access to alocation within a building based on the schedule. In variousembodiments, the smart lobby system described herein may at leastpartially integrate with an external system (e.g., BMS 102, cloudbuilding management platform 140, entity graph 170, etc.). For example,a smart lobby may reference entity graph 170 to facilitate useridentification. In various embodiments, the smart lobby system describedherein facilitates frictionless access to a building. Additionally oralternatively, the smart lobby system described herein may facilitatedynamic actions based on occupancy conditions. For example, a smartlobby may dynamically redirect individuals to different buildingentrances based on an occupancy metric (e.g., a number of people at anentrance, individuals waiting in a long line at an entrance may bedynamically redirected to an entrance with a shorter line, etc.).

As a non-limiting example, a smart lobby may detect the presence of anindividual in a lobby. The smart lobby may capture an image of theindividual and perform facial recognition to determine an identity ofthe individual. Using the identity of the individual, the smart lobbymay retrieve context information associated with the individual. Forexample, the smart lobby may retrieve access rights and a schedule ofthe individual. The smart lobby may determine, based on the schedule ofthe individual, that the individual has an upcoming meeting.Furthermore, the smart lobby may determine, based on the access rightsof the individual, that the individual is authorized to enter portionsof the building to access a location associated with the upcomingmeeting. The smart lobby may control access control devices to grant theindividual access to the location of the upcoming meeting. Additionallyor alternatively, the smart lobby may display directions to theindividual describing a route to the location of the upcoming meeting.In some embodiments, the smart lobby may display turn-by-turn directionson digital signage located throughout the lobby and/or building and/ormay provide such directions fully or partially to a device of theindividual (e.g., the individual's smartphone).

As another non-limiting example, a smart lobby may receive an indicationfrom a smart parking system. For example, the smart lobby may receive anindication from a smart parking system that an individual has arrived ata parking lot associated with a building. The smart lobby may retrievecontext information associated with the individual. For example, thesmart lobby may retrieve an organizational role (e.g., a seniority, atitle, an organizational position, etc.) associated with the individual.Additionally or alternatively, the smart lobby may determineenvironmental characteristics associated with various entrances of thebuilding. For example, the smart lobby may determine how many people arewaiting in line at each of the various entrances. The smart lobby maydetermine, based on the organizational role of the individual, that theindividual is a very-important person (VIP). Furthermore, the smartlobby may determine, based on the environmental characteristics of thevarious entrances, that a main lobby has a long wait time (e.g., anestimated or measured wait time above a particular time threshold). Thesmart lobby may analyze the context information and notify an employeeescort that the individual has arrived at the parking lot. Furthermore,the smart lobby may display personalized directions to the individual todirect the individual to an entrance having a short wait time and/or toan entrance where the employee escort is waiting. For example, the smartlobby may display the personalized message and directions on digitalsignage located in the parking lot.

Referring now to FIGS. 4A-4B, a smart lobby management system includingsmart lobby system 1100 is shown, according to an exemplary embodiment.In various embodiments, smart lobby system 1100 is configured to managevarious processes associated with verifying, welcoming, and directingindividuals entering a building as well as improvements thereto. Forexample, smart lobby system 1100 is configured to identify an individualentering smart lobby 1180, traverse a digital twin graph or other datastructure and identify a digital twin graph associated with theindividual to retrieve context information associated with theindividual such as historical actions associated with the individual,determine based on the historical actions that the individual typicallyorders a coffee in the morning, and communicate with a hospitalitysystem to automatically (e.g., without user intervention and/or withminimal user intervention, etc.) order a coffee to an office of theindividual. As another example, smart lobby system 1100 is configured toreceive sensor data associated with an individual (e.g., an image of theindividual, etc.), identify the individual based on the sensor data(e.g., by traversing an entity graph to identify a digital twin havingfacial image data corresponding to the image data, etc.), retrievecontext information associated with the identified individual (e.g.,security data retrieved from a digital twin associated with theindividual, etc.), and control access control devices based on thecontext information to grant the individual access to a building (e.g.,in response to determining based on the security data that theindividual is authorized to access the building, etc.). In variousembodiments, smart lobby system 1100 is configured to communicate withexternal systems via network 20. For example, smart lobby system 1100may communicate with client devices 40, building management system 102,cloud building management platform 140, and smart parking lot system1155, hospitality system 1165, and smart lobby 1180. Hospitality system1165 may include a system for food and beverage orders within building10. For example, hospitality system 1165 may include an office servicessystem of building 10 and/or a catering service of building 10. In someembodiments, a user may request food and drink at a meeting viahospitality system 1165. In various embodiments, smart parking lotsystem 1155 is configured to manage various processes associated withscheduling, assigning, and implementing parking in a parking lot as wellas improvements thereto. For example, smart parking lot system 1155 isconfigured to identify an individual associated with a vehicle enteringa smart parking lot, retrieve context information associated with theindividual, dynamically assign the individual a parking space based onthe context information, and direct the individual to the parking space.In some embodiments, client devices 40 may not be part of smart lobbysystem 1100, but may be user devices such as smartphones from whichsmart lobby system 1100 receives input data.

In various embodiments, smart lobby system 1100 implements and/orfacilitates various features 1101 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4B, etc.). Forexample, smart lobby system 1100 may implement arrival notification 1109(e.g., notifying security of the arrival of a visitor, notifying a hostof the arrival of a guest, notifying reception of the arrival of avisitor, etc.), food/beverage ordering 1107 (e.g., automaticallyordering food/beverage for an employee when they arrive at work, etc.),visitor management 1121 (e.g., detecting visitors and directingvisitors, for example to a meeting, etc.). In some embodiments, smartlobby system 1100 notifies a host 1111, security personnel 1113, and/orreception personnel 1115 in response to events. For example, smart lobbysystem 1100 may identify an individual arriving in smart lobby 1180 andnotify a host 1111 that the individual has arrived. As an additionalexample, smart lobby system 1100 may receive an indication from smartparking lot system 1155 that a visitor has arrived and may notifyreception personnel 1115 that the visitor has arrived. In someembodiments, smart lobby system 1100 facilitates food/beverage services1107. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may identify an individualarriving in smart lobby 1180, determine a coffee order for theindividual (e.g., by analyzing historical food/beverage orders of theindividual, etc.), and communicate with hospitality system 1165 to havethe coffee delivered to an office of the individual. In someembodiments, smart lobby system 1100 facilitates license platerecognition 1117 to identify visitor arrival 1119. For example, smartlobby system 1100 may integrate with smart parking lot system 1155 tocapture an image of a vehicle, apply license plate recognition toidentify a license plate number associated with the vehicle, andidentify the vehicle as being associated with a visitor. Additionally oralternatively, smart lobby system 1100 may facilitate facial recognition1123. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may capture image data of anarriving visitor, and apply facial recognition to identify the visitor.

In various embodiments, smart lobby system 1100 receives inputs 1103from various sources. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may receiveinput data from a host 1139 (e.g., a reception host taking a visitorsinformation, etc.), email 1137 (e.g., by extracting visitor informationfrom a meeting invite, etc.), wayfinding data 1133 (e.g., directionaldata, map data, etc.), maps 1135, a digital twin 1129, contextinformation 1131, QR 1125 (e.g., a visitor scanning an identifying QRcode upon arrival, etc.), entity graph 170, and/or profile information1127 (e.g., a virtual ticket associated with a visitor, a profileinformation included in a digital twin of an individual, etc.). Althoughseveral input 1103 sources have been recited, it should be understoodthat smart lobby system 1100 is not limited to the input sourcesexplicitly recited herein and may dynamically and flexibly accommodateadditional input sources (e.g., via an API, additional databases, etc.).

Smart lobby 1180 may be any space (e.g., lobby, entry, reception, etc.)configured to communicate with smart lobby system 1100. In variousembodiments, building 10 includes smart lobby 1180. Smart lobby 1180 mayinclude user interface 1182, access control devices 1184, and sensors1186. User interface 1182 may include displays, voice assistants,gesture detectors, tablets, control panels, remotes, mobileapplications, and/or any other user interface (e.g., physical orotherwise, etc.). In various embodiments, a user may interact with smartlobby system 1100 and/or smart lobby 1180 via user interface 1182. Forexample, a user may check-in at an automated reception desk of smartlobby 1180 using user interface 1182. Access control devices 1184 mayinclude gates, turnstiles, ramps, doors, elevators, barriers, and/or anyother devices or structures configured to control access to smart lobby1180 and/or building 10. Sensors 1186, may include occupancy sensors,cameras (e.g., for facial recognition, etc.), biometric sensors, lightsensors, weight sensors, temperature sensors, microphones (e.g., forvoice recognition, etc.), and any other type of sensor. In variousembodiments, sensors 1186 collect information about an individual inbuilding 10 and/or smart lobby 1180 and transmit the information tosmart lobby system 1100. For example, sensors 1186 may capture an imageof an individual entering smart lobby 1180. To continue the example,smart lobby system 1100 may apply facial recognition to the image toidentify facial features, traverse an entity graph data structure (e.g.,entity graph 170, etc.) to identify a digital twin associated with thefacial features (e.g., having a node corresponding to the facialfeatures, including a connection “hasFace,” etc.), retrieve contextinformation including a schedule of the individual from the identifieddigital twin, identify a next event on the schedule, and displaydirections on a digital display in smart lobby 1180 to direct theindividual to a location of the next event. In some embodiments, sensors1186 include a QR code reader. For example, an employee may scan anidentification badge on a QR code reader when they enter smart lobby1180.

Smart lobby system 1100 includes communications interface 1102, andprocessing circuit 1104. Communications interface 1102 is configured tofacilitate communication between smart lobby system 1100 and externalsystems. For example, communications interface 1102 may facilitatecommunication between smart lobby system 1100 and smart lobby 1180. Insome embodiments, communications interface 1102 is similar tocommunications interface 104 described above with reference to FIG. 1A.

Processing circuit 1104 includes processor 1106 and memory 1108. Smartlobby system 1100 may include one or more processing circuits 1104including one or more processors 1106 and one or more memories 1108.Each of processors 1106 can be a general purpose or specific purposeprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one ormore field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processingcomponents, or other suitable processing components. Each of processors1106 is configured to execute computer code or instructions stored inmemory 1108 or received from other computer readable media (e.g., CDROM,network storage, a remote server, etc.).

Memory 1108 may include one or more devices (e.g., memory units, memorydevices, storage devices, or other computer-readable medium) for storingdata and/or computer code for completing and/or facilitating the variousprocesses described in the present disclosure. Memory 1108 may includerandom access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive storage,temporary storage, non-volatile memory, flash memory, optical memory, orany other suitable memory for storing software objects and/or computerinstructions. Memory 1108 may include database components, object codecomponents, script components, or any other type of informationstructure for supporting the various activities and informationstructures described in the present disclosure. Memory 1108 may becommunicably connected to processor(s) 1106 via processing circuit 1104and may include computer code for executing (e.g., by processor 1106)one or more processes described herein.

Memory 1108 includes identification circuit 1110, context circuit 1120,notification circuit 1130, and frictionless access circuit 1140.Identification circuit 1110 may receive data from sensors 1186 andidentify individuals. For example, identification circuit 1100 mayreceive an image of an individual and identify facial features of theindividual from the image and identify a digital twin from a databasecorresponding to the individual based on the identified facial features.In some embodiments, identification circuit 1110 may use facialrecognition to determine a facial features of an individual in an image,search an entity graph structure (e.g., entity graph 170, etc.) usingthe facial features to determine an individual having the facialfeatures (e.g., a digital twin having a node including the facialfeatures in a “hasFace” connection, etc.), and retrieve a digital twinof the individual (e.g., structured data associated with/representingthe individual, etc.). In various embodiments, identification circuit1110 queries structured data to facilitate identification. For example,identification circuit 1110 may query entity graph 170 with biometricdata (e.g., facial image data, etc.) to identify an individual. As afurther example, identification circuit 1110 may query a database ofdigital twins to identify an individual having a specific badge number(or other identifier). In some embodiments, identification circuit 1110identifies individuals using biometric data. For example, identificationcircuit 1110 may use facial recognition and/or voice recognition toidentify an individual. Additionally or alternatively, identificationcircuit 1110 may identify an individual using information received froma mobile device associated with the individual. For example,identification circuit 1110 may detect a mobile phone using NFC, receivean identifier from the mobile phone, and search a graph structure (e.g.,entity graph 170, etc.) to determine an individual associated with themobile phone.

Context circuit 1120 is configured to analyze context informationassociated with an identified individual. For example, context analysiscircuit 1120 may analyze a schedule of an individual, determine that theindividual has a meeting that they are late for, and facilitatedisplaying a route to the meeting on digital displays located throughoutsmart lobby 1180. As a further example, context analysis circuit 1120may analyze a digital twin associated with an individual, determine thatthe individual is mobility restricted, and identify security personnelto assist the individual. Additionally or alternatively, context circuit1120 may analyze context information associated with smart lobby 1180.For example, context circuit 1120 may monitor an occupancy metric (e.g.,a number of individuals in smart lobby 1180, etc.). In variousembodiments, context circuit 1120 may perform actions in response todetecting an individual arrive in smart lobby 1180. For example, contextcircuit 1120 may analyze historical actions of the individual such as anfood/beverage ordering history of the individual and generate afood/beverage order for the individual in response to detecting theindividual enter smart lobby 1180 (e.g., when the user arrives atbuilding 10 in the morning, etc.). In some embodiments, entity graph 170includes context information. In various embodiments, context circuit1120 facilitates actions based on an occupancy of smart lobby 1180. Forexample, context circuit 1120 may determine that there is a large numberof individuals in smart lobby 1180 and may notify a number of theindividuals to redirect them to alternate entrances. As a furtherexample, context circuit 1120 may request additional reception personnelif smart lobby 1180 becomes backed up. As yet another example, contextcircuit 1120 may generate a cookie order for hospitality system 1165 inresponse to determining that visitors have been waiting in line for along period of time in smart lobby 1180. In various embodiments, theoccupancy metric is a number of individuals in smart lobby 1180. Thenumber of individuals may be determined dynamically (e.g., changes overtime, based on environmental conditions, etc.) and/or may be absolute(e.g., a static value, etc.).

Notification circuit 1130 is configured to generate and transmitnotifications. For example, notification circuit 1130 may receive anindication that an individual has arrived in building 10 and/or smartlobby 1180 and receive an indication of an interested person (e.g., fromcontext circuit 1120, etc.) and generate a notification to theinterested person indicating that the individual has arrived in building10 and/or smart lobby 1180. In some embodiments, notification circuit1130 may receive sensor data from sensors 1186 indicating that anindividual has been detected in smart lobby 1180, receive contextinformation including an identity of an interested person, and transmita notification to the interested person indicating a location of theindividual. Additionally or alternatively, notification circuit 1130 maycontrol devices associate with user interface 1182. For example, userinterface 1182 may include digital signage located throughout smartlobby 1180 and notification circuit 1130 may be configured to transmituser interface elements to the digital signage for displaying toviewers. For example, notification circuit 1130 may control a digitaldisplay associated with user interface 1182 to display turn-by-turndirections to next event on a schedule of an identified individual. Invarious embodiments, notification circuit 1130 facilitates two-waycommunication. For example, notification circuit 1130 may send anotification to an employee indicating that a guest of the employee hasarrived in smart lobby 1180, may receive a response from the employee(e.g., a personalized message, etc.), and may display the response tothe guest (e.g., via user interface 1182, etc.).

Frictionless access circuit 1140 is configured to facilitatefrictionless access to building 10 and/or smart lobby 1180. For example,frictionless access circuit 1140 may control access control devices 1184to automatically (e.g., with little to no user intervention, etc.) grantusers access to building 10 and/or smart lobby 1180. In variousembodiments, frictionless access circuit 1140 retrieves securityinformation associated with an individual. For example, frictionlessaccess circuit 1140 may traverse an entity graph data structure (e.g.,entity graph 170, etc.) to identify a digital twin representing anindividual and including security information associated with theindividual (e.g., access rights, alerts, clearances, warnings, etc.). Invarious embodiments, frictionless access circuit 1140 analyzes thesecurity information to determine actions. For example, frictionlessaccess circuit 1140 may analyze the security information to determinethat an individual has access to building 10 and control access controldevices 1184 to grant the individual access to the building 10. As afurther example, frictionless access circuit 1140 may analyze thesecurity information to determine that an individual is banned frombuilding 10 and notify security personnel (e.g., via notificationcircuit 1130, etc.) of the presence of the individual. In someembodiments, frictionless access circuit 1140 receives securityinformation from sensors 1186. For example, sensors 1186 may receive avirtual ticket having security information from a mobile deviceassociated with an individual (e.g., via NFC, etc.), and transmit thevirtual ticket to frictionless access circuit 1140. Additionally oralternatively, sensors 1186 may detect a mobile device using Bluetooth,WiFi, and/or a cellular connection (e.g., via a 4G or 5G accesspoint/small cell base station, etc.). In various embodiments,frictionless access circuit 1140 controls a user's access to building10. For example, frictionless access circuit 1140 may receive a locationof a meeting associated with a visitor and may control access controldevices 1184 to grant the visitor access to a route to a conference roomassociated with the meeting without granting the visitor access tosections of building 10 not related to the meeting and/or a route to themeeting. Additionally or alternatively, frictionless access circuit 1140may interact with users via user interface 1182. For example,frictionless access circuit 1140 may facilitate two-factorauthentication using user interface 1182. As a further example, a usermay supply a numeric code using user interface 1182 and frictionlessaccess circuit 1140 may verify the user using the numeric code.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a method 1200 of performing actions in responseto the arrival of an individual is shown, according to an exemplaryembodiment. In various embodiments, smart lobby system 1100 performsmethod 1200. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may perform method1200 in response to detecting an individual in building 10 for the firsttime in a day (e.g., when the individual arrives at work in the morning,etc.). At step 1210, smart lobby system 1100 detects an individual whoenters into a lobby. For example, sensors 1186 may detect motion insmart lobby 1180 and capture an image of an individual, andidentification circuit 1110 may identify the individual by using facialrecognition on the image and searching through an entity graph datastructure (e.g., entity graph 170, etc.) to identify a digital twinassociated with the individual (e.g., a digital twin representing theindividual, etc.). As an additional example, sensors 1186 may receive acommunication including an identifier from a mobile device associatedwith a visitor and identify a digital twin representing the individualusing the identifier. In various embodiments, detecting the individualincludes identifying the individual. For example, smart lobby system1100 may identify an individual based on behavior patterns of theindividual (e.g., a path taken by the individual, gait analysisperformed on the individual, traversing entity graph 170, etc.).

At step 1220, smart lobby system 1100 retrieves context informationcorresponding to the individual. For example, context circuit 1120 maytraverse a digital twin graph representing the individual to retrieve aschedule of the individual and security information associated with theindividual. As a further example, context circuit 1120 may retrievehistorical actions associated with the individual from a digital twinassociated with the individual. In some embodiments, context circuit1120 may retrieve timeseries actions of the individual based on an“isLinked” relationship in a digital twin of the individual. Forexample, the timeseries actions may describe a food/beverage orderhistory of the individual. In various embodiments, the contextinformation includes characteristics of the individual, identifyinginformation associated with the individual, historical informationassociated with the individual, and any other information associatedwith an individual. Additionally or alternatively, context informationmay be associated with a space. For example, context information maydescribe characteristics of a space, environmental parameters of aspace, historical information associated with a space, user populationinformation associated with a space, and the like.

At step 1230, smart lobby system 1100 updates a user profile of theindividual to indicate that the individual has arrived at the lobby. Forexample, smart lobby system 1100 may update a digital twin representingthe individual to include a timeseries data entry associated with theindividual arriving at building 10. In various embodiments, a digitaltwin associated with the individual includes the user profile. As afurther example, smart lobby system 1100 may update a database ofhistorical actions associated with a digital twin of the individual toinclude a “check-in” time for the individual. In various embodiments,the user profile includes a digital twin of the individual. For example,smart lobby system 1100 may retrieve an entity graph data structurerepresenting the individual and add a node including a location of smartlobby 1180 where the individual was detected and a time at which theindividual was detected to the entity graph data structure. In someembodiments, updating the user profile triggers additional actions. Forexample, if the individual is late to work, updating the user profileindicating that the user is late may trigger an email notification tothe individual indicating that the individual is late to work. Invarious embodiments, updating the user profile includes performing oneor more actions. For example, updating the user profile may includegenerating a food/beverage order for hospitality system 1165 for theindividual.

At step 1240, smart lobby system 1100 controls one or more accesscontrol devices based on the context information. For example, smartlobby system 1100 may determine that an individual is authorized toaccess building 10 (e.g., by analyzing security information included inthe context information, etc.) and may control access control devices1184 to grant the individual access to building 10 (e.g., by unlocking adoor, etc.). In some embodiments, step 1240 includes controlling theindividual's access to building 10. For example, a visitor may have ameeting in a conference room separated from smart lobby 1210 by twoaccess control devices 1184. To continue the example, smart lobby system1100 may control a first access control device 1184 to grant theindividual access to a hallway. The hallway may include the secondaccess control device 1184 and a side door. Smart lobby system 1100 maynot open the side door (e.g., such that the visitor may not leave adesignated route between smart lobby 1180 and the conference room, etc.)but may control the second access control device 1184 (e.g., in responseto the access control device 1184 detecting the visitor nearby, etc.) togrant the visitor access to the conference room.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a method 1300 of generating an action based onan environmental characteristic of a lobby is shown, according to anexemplary embodiment. In various embodiments, smart lobby system 1100performs method 1300. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may performmethod 1300 in response to detecting an individual in building 10. Atstep 1310, smart lobby system 1100 detects an individual who enters intoa lobby. For example, sensors 1186 may detect motion in smart lobby 1180and capture an image of an individual, and identification circuit 1110may identify the individual by using facial recognition on the image andsearching through an entity graph data structure (e.g., entity graph170, etc.) to identify a digital twin associated with the individual(e.g., a digital twin representing the individual, etc.). As anadditional example, sensors 1186 may receive a communication includingan identifier from a mobile device associated with a visitor andidentify a digital twin representing the individual using theidentifier.

At step 1320, smart lobby system 1100 retrieves context informationcorresponding to the individual. For example, context circuit 1120 maytraverse a digital twin graph representing the individual to retrieve aschedule of the individual and security information associated with theindividual. As a further example, context circuit 1120 may retrievehistorical actions associated with the individual from a digital twinassociated with the individual. In some embodiments, context circuit1120 may retrieve timeseries actions of the individual based on an“isLinked” relationship in a digital twin of the individual. Forexample, the timeseries actions may describe a food/beverage orderhistory of the individual.

At step 1330, smart lobby system 1100 determines environmentalcharacteristics associated with the lobby. For example, smart lobbysystem 1100 may receive data from sensors 1186 and determine anoccupancy of smart lobby 1180. As a further example, smart lobby system1100 may determine a temperature of smart lobby 1180. In someembodiments, smart lobby system 1100 may receive an image from sensors1186 (e.g., a security camera, etc.) and perform image recognition todetermine an occupancy metric (e.g., a number of people waiting in linein smart lobby 1180, etc.). As a further example, smart lobby system1100 may retrieve a reception calendar associated with smart lobby 1180and determine an expected reception demand (e.g., based on the number ofindividuals scheduled to arrive over time, etc.).

At step 1340, smart lobby system 1100 generates an action based on thecontext information and the environmental characteristics of the lobby.For example, in response to determining that long wait times exist insmart lobby 1180, smart lobby system 1100 may transmit notifications toindividuals in line in smart lobby 1180 to redirect them to alternativeentrances (e.g., another lobby, etc.). As a further example, smart lobbysystem 1100 may determine that a large group of visitors are arriving atsmart lobby 1180 (e.g., based on a reception schedule of smart lobby1180, etc.), and may generate a notification to employees who arearriving in a parking lot associated with the building (e.g., via smartparking lot system 1155, etc.) to use an alternate entrance so thatsmart lobby 1180 does not become crowded. As a further example, smartlobby system 1100 may determine that smart lobby 1180 includes a largenumber of individuals and may generate a notification to requestadditional security personnel to facilitate piggybacking reduction(e.g., monitor smart lobby 1180 and ensure that individuals aren'tpiggybacking into building 10 with one another, etc.). In someembodiments, smart lobby system 1100 may determine that smart lobby 1180is overcrowded, analyze context information associated with individualsin smart lobby 1180 to determine if they are authorized to accessbuilding 10, and in response to determining that they are authorized,display a message on digital signage (e.g., via user interface 1182,etc.) that the individual has been granted access to building 10, andcontrol access control devices 1184 to grant the individual access tobuilding 10.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an example embodiment of smart lobby 1180 isshown. At step 1410, smart lobby system 1100 may identify an individualwho enters into smart lobby 1180. For example, sensor 1182 may capturean image of the individual and smart lobby system 1100 may use facialrecognition to identify a digital twin of the individual as described indetail above. As an additional example, sensors 1182 may capturebehavior patterns (e.g., path taken, sequence of actions performed,interactions, etc.) of the individual and query entity graph 170 todetermine an identity of the individual. At step 1420, smart lobbysystem 1100 retrieves context information corresponding to theindividual. In some embodiments, smart lobby system 1100 may retrieve avirtual ticket associated with the individual indicating that theindividual is a visitor and including a schedule of the individual andhost of the individual. At step 1430, smart lobby system 1100 may updatea smart display to greet the individual. For example, smart lobby system1100 may display a personalized greeting to the individual, a scheduleof the individual, and instructions to wait for an employee escort. Atstep 1440, smart lobby system 1100 may transmit a notification to anemployee. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may transmit anotification to the host of the visitor indicating that the visitor hasarrived in smart lobby 1180 and that they should greet the visitor andescort the visitor to a meeting. At step 1450, smart lobby system 1100controls an access control device 1188 to grant the individual access tothe building. For example, smart lobby system 1100 may unlock aturnstile in response to an employee escort joining the visitor.

Configuration of Exemplary Embodiments

The construction and arrangement of the systems and methods as shown inthe various exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. Although only afew embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, manymodifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions,structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values ofparameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors,orientations, etc.). For example, the position of elements can bereversed or otherwise varied and the nature or number of discreteelements or positions can be altered or varied. Accordingly, all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of thepresent disclosure. The order or sequence of any process or method stepscan be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments.Other substitutions, modifications, changes, and omissions can be madein the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the exemplaryembodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure contemplates methods, systems and programproducts on any machine-readable media for accomplishing variousoperations. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be implementedusing existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computerprocessor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or anotherpurpose, or by a hardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of thepresent disclosure include program products comprising machine-readablemedia for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or datastructures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be anyavailable media that can be accessed by a general purpose or specialpurpose computer or other machine with a processor. By way of example,such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROMor other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or storedesired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions ordata structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer or other machine with a processor. Combinationsof the above are also included within the scope of machine-readablemedia. Machine-executable instructions include, for example,instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform acertain function or group of functions.

Although the figures show a specific order of method steps, the order ofthe steps may differ from what is depicted. Also two or more steps canbe performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variationwill depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designerchoice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure.Likewise, software implementations could be accomplished with standardprogramming techniques with rule based logic and other logic toaccomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparisonsteps and decision steps.

The term “client or “server” include all kinds of apparatus, devices,and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multipleones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The apparatus may includespecial purpose logic circuitry, e.g., a field programmable gate array(FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Theapparatus may also include, in addition to hardware, code that createsan execution environment for the computer program in question (e.g.,code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, a cross-platform runtimeenvironment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more ofthem). The apparatus and execution environment may realize variousdifferent computing model infrastructures, such as web services,distributed computing and grid computing infrastructures.

The systems and methods of the present disclosure may be completed byany computer program. A computer program (also known as a program,software, software application, script, or code) may be written in anyform of programming language, including compiled or interpretedlanguages, declarative or procedural languages, and it may be deployedin any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, object, or other unit suitable for use in acomputing environment. A computer program may, but need not, correspondto a file in a file system. A program may be stored in a portion of afile that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts storedin a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to theprogram in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files thatstore one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). Acomputer program may be deployed to be executed on one computer or onmultiple computers that are located at one site or distributed acrossmultiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification may beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows may also be performedby, and apparatus may also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry (e.g., an FPGA or an ASIC).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing actions in accordance with instructions andone or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally,a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive datafrom or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices forstoring data (e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks).However, a computer need not have such devices. Moreover, a computer maybe embedded in another device (e.g., a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console,a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or a portable storage device(e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive), etc.). Devicessuitable for storing computer program instructions and data include allforms of non-volatile memory, media and memory devices, including by wayof example semiconductor memory devices (e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks). Theprocessor and the memory may be supplemented by, or incorporated in,special purpose logic circuitry. The term processing circuit as usedherein may include hardware, software, or any combination thereof. Forexample, a processing circuit may include a processor and memory havinginstructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, causethe processing circuit to perform operations.

To provide for interaction with a user, implementations of the subjectmatter described in this specification may be implemented on a computerhaving a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube), LCD (liquidcrystal display), OLED (organic light emitting diode), TFT (thin-filmtransistor), or other flexible configuration, or any other monitor fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard, a pointing device,e.g., a mouse, trackball, etc., or a touch screen, touch pad, etc.) bywhich the user may provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devicesmay be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user may be any form of sensory feedback (e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback), and input fromthe user may be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input. In addition, a computer may interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is usedby the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on auser's client device in response to requests received from the webbrowser.

Implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure maybe implemented in a computing system that includes a back-end component(e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g.,an application server), or that includes a front end component (e.g., aclient computer) having a graphical user interface or a web browserthrough which a user may interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described in this disclosure, or any combination of one or moresuch back end, middleware, or front end components. The components ofthe system may be interconnected by any form or medium of digital datacommunication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communicationnetworks include a LAN and a WAN, an inter-network (e.g., the Internet),and peer-to-peer networks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks).

The present disclosure may be embodied in various different forms, andshould not be construed as being limited to only the illustratedembodiments herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided as examplesso that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the aspects and features of the present disclosure to thoseskilled in the art. Accordingly, processes, elements, and techniquesthat are not necessary to those having ordinary skill in the art for acomplete understanding of the aspects and features of the presentdisclosure may not be described. Unless otherwise noted, like referencenumerals denote like elements throughout the attached drawings and thewritten description, and thus, descriptions thereof may not be repeated.Further, features or aspects within each example embodiment shouldtypically be considered as available for other similar features oraspects in other example embodiments.

It will be understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,”“third,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements,components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms.These terms are used to distinguish one element, component, region,layer or section from another element, component, region, layer orsection. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or sectiondescribed below could be termed a second element, component, region,layer or section, without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the presentdisclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a” and “an” are intendedto include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and “including,” “has, ” “have, ”and “having,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofthe stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes anyand all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list ofelements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify theindividual elements of the list.

As used herein, the term “substantially,” “about,” and similar terms areused as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, and areintended to account for the inherent variations in measured orcalculated values that would be recognized by those of ordinary skill inthe art. Further, the use of “may” when describing embodiments of thepresent disclosure refers to “one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure.” As used herein, the terms “use,” “using,” and “used” may beconsidered synonymous with the terms “utilize,” “utilizing,” and“utilized,” respectively. Also, the term “exemplary” is intended torefer to an example or illustration.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed byone or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: detect anindividual who enters into a lobby of a building; retrieve contextinformation corresponding to the individual; update a user profile ofthe individual to indicate the individual has arrived at the building;and control one or more access control devices to grant the individualaccess to the building based on the context information.
 2. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, whereindetecting the individual includes recognizing a physical characteristicof the individual.
 3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 1, wherein the context information includes asecurity metric associated with the individual.
 4. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 3, whereincontrolling the one or more access control devices is in response tocomparing the security metric to a threshold.
 5. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein thecontext information includes a schedule having events associated withthe individual.
 6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 5, wherein controlling the one or more accesscontrol devices further includes displaying directions to the individualto a location of a next event on the schedule of the individual.
 7. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1,wherein the context information includes an interested person.
 8. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 7,wherein updating the user profile of the individual includestransmitting a notification to a device associated with the interestedperson indicating that the individual has arrived in the lobby.
 9. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1,wherein the context information includes user preferences of theindividual.
 10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 9, wherein updating the user profile of the individualincludes transmitting a notification to a food/beverage provider basedon the user preferences of the individual.
 11. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to: detect a vehicle that enters into a parkinglot; identify an individual associated with the vehicle; retrievecontext information corresponding to the individual; transmit anotification to a lobby personnel indicating that the individual hasarrived in the parking lot; and control one or more access controldevices to grant the individual access to a building associated with theparking lot based on the context information.
 12. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, whereindetecting the vehicle includes recognizing a license plate of thevehicle.
 13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 11, wherein the context information includes a securitymetric associated with the individual.
 14. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, whereincontrolling the one or more access control devices is in response tocomparing the security metric to a threshold.
 15. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, whereinidentifying the individual includes recognizing a physicalcharacteristic of the individual.
 16. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the contextinformation includes a schedule having events associated with theindividual.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 16, wherein controlling the one or more access controldevices further includes displaying to the individual directions to alocation of a next event on the schedule of the individual.
 18. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11,wherein the context information includes interested persons.
 19. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18,wherein the system further transmits a notification to a deviceassociated with at least one of the interested persons indicating thatthe individual has arrived in the parking lot.
 20. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to: detect an individual who enters into a lobbyof a building; retrieve context information corresponding to theindividual; determine environmental characteristics of the lobby; andgenerate an action based on the context information and theenvironmental characteristics of the lobby.